Before A Fall
by SpeedyAlchemist
Summary: Al dives in to save Ed, but what happens if the price is too high? We find a story told through the eyes of Edward… but is it really him? *Takes place after the end of the Original Anime*
1. Chapter One: Creation

Chapter One "Creation"

"Al… Al!" He screamed on the inside.

Ed found it impossible to breathe, like something sharp was jammed into his throat. The only sound that emitted from his being was hardly breathing, he bathed in his own blood but it was too hard to see anything around him, like his eyes were burning.

"Al… Envy… did Envy do this to me?" He tried to blink, unable to think clearly at this point.

There was a white door that had stood in front of him; the vision of Al's armored body there for his last glimpse of family. There was no hand reaching out for him when the doors opened, only black things that caressed against him as if to try and figure him out.

Before he had accepted it, the metal blade had run through his heart. The slowed heartbeat and blood that had trickled down his mouth was the last his eyes had seen.

But now, he saw a blue light. Ed could not realize what was going on, only… that he was… on his back…

Flashes of his mother's gasping breath flooded his mind. It felt like… he was not all there… he was missing something very important. The classical music was ringing in his ears as sounds came back to him. The record player was skipping against the song as if left there for a long time.

His eyes came to open on his own now, but he had to slink forward with his gloved hand. It took him a second, but once he tried to move the right arm, he was horrified. "My arm? It's back?"

His soul cried out in remorse, did this mean his brother was dead? Was he brought back to life?

A young woman was lying against the floor, her hair pressing against it as she cried there. The woman was dark skinned with streaks of pink in her hair; she was holding a baby close to her. "Edward… Alphonse…"

"R…Rose?" Ed had finally managed to speak a word, but he could not see himself right now.

Rose turned… and Ed watched her expression change. She stuttered in a gasping way, anger and disgust all over her face. "ISHVALLA SAVE YOU! YOU MONSTER!"

Ed's heart felt like it was stolen away; the pain in his chest was his soul crying out; if he even had one at this moment.  
He moved up, his body felt like lead and iron. The chandelier to the palace-like room was shattered so that glass was all over the floor.

Ed's blond hair swayed to the side, he didn't want to look down… but there he was. "I… I'm… like they are…"  
"A Homunculus!" Rose snarled, looking at him with pure hatred. "Al tried to bring Ed back but made YOU instead! You may look like him, but I know better."

Ed remembered saying things to Sloth of that manner, before he'd killed her.

Rose's fingers were twitching, holding her child that would not stop its crying. "I know better."

Ed fell to his knees, his leg was restored so it did not make the clucking noise that he was used to. All he could think about now, was his little brother.

"Alright! Then I'll bring him back!" Ed screamed in determination.

He wiped some of the blood that had been scattered all around him, and painted symbols on his arms, legs, chest, heart, and mind. Pulling his arms back he clapped them together attempting the forbidden act, Human transmutation. Ed was always willing to risk everything on Al, his life was nothing; it belonged to his brother.

But he soon found that his efforts were useless, he could not perform alchemy.

Ed kept clapping, the desperation started to course through him. Al's life depended on it. "Why isn't it working? I'm offering my life for his! It's an equivalent exchange!"

"Stop trying to act like him," Rose felt she saw through him. "How could you possibly believe you're an equivalent to Alphonse? You're nothing compared to the original Edward."

"O…Original?" Edward saw that his skin was paler and that his clothing was weird. It was surreal, the feelings in his heart were so strong, but why wasn't it enough?

It was impossible! If he was really a Homunculus, then that would mean… that Sloth really was… his mother brought back…

"This is unfair." Ed's hands were shaking; he balled his fists and slammed them into the ground. "THIS IS UNFAIR!"

Ed reared back, moving to Rose with pleading eyes. "Rose what happened? Where is Dante and Gluttony, did Al really do that? I need to know."

Rose stood up, the dress swishing as she turned her back to him. "You don't need to know anything. _**Edward Elric, is dead.**_"

She shut the big doors behind her. They slammed once they met in the middle.

…

…

…

"No!" Ed stood up, his eyes blazing in fiery confidence. "I am Edward Elric. I know it."

There was a loud quietness overshadowing him, the record still skipping on itself. It was a lonely awakening… but whether or not he was the real Ed, he was going to save Al.

"People can't be brought back, I know that." Ed breathed in. "But if I'm here, and if I am who I believe I am. Al found a way, so I will to bring him back. Soul, or no soul."  
End chapter


	2. Chapter Two: Equivalent Exchange

Chapter Two "Equivalent Exchange"

Edward opened up the doors in front of him; it was not like it was when he had walked through these the first time. He was greeted to Rose's smile and dancing, but now she just spat at him.

"I wonder if Winry would look at me the same way…" Ed could not help but wonder. "If, she'd think I was a Monster too."

Ed never really cared what others thought of him before; he was not well liked but not well hated either, unless they were looking to stand in his way of finding the Philosopher's Stone.

He came across a broken down house, there was a loud crunching noise. "Who's there?"

Ed's head jerked back, he now knew what was the end of Dante.  
It was hard for Ed to hold his stomach, she was no longer intact. Her body was torn to pieces and he was left to look at her remains.

Stepping forward, he felt a strong unease. The city started to shake at his feet like hell was swallowing it up, Ed was about to look around but he felt a weird crick in his shoulder.

"This whole place is going to cave in, what the hell have they been doing down here?" Ed laid his hand against the side of a metal post so he wouldn't fall over do to the earth's movement, but his hand felt… weird.

His right arm had completely blended into metal, taking on the structural properties of the post he'd touched. After he pulled it back, it formed into a sharp object like a knife, similar to that he would make his Automail into.

"Ok, that's a new one." Ed's eyes were big.

Even with the whole place rattling it did not take away his concentration. He tried touching other objects, brick walls, iron lampposts, the ground and an old tree, only the post would work.

As soon as he came to this realization, he could not help but laugh at the irony. "Somebody up there is laughing his head off right about now. I have my arm back, but it still ends up metal."

Even stranger was the second he thought of the material metal, his arm would change form as well, touch too. He looked to be getting irritated.

"Al, I'll have a lot to tell you when I bring you back." He grinned defiantly, knowing full well he was going against the very principles he had lead himself to believe. "I'm bringing you back and am accepting of the consequences."

After a few moments he began to wonder why he was questioning himself at all, all that greeted him was the sound of rubble falling from the surface and landing at his feet.  
His arm felt heavy but he did not notice it, he had built up the muscles in his arm from his Automail.

He walked swiftly, but his hair was moving in his face. His braid had been undone since he had awakened. His attire was much different as well, his pants were short and his shirt was close to his chest so that his abs were showing. His eyes too… Ed could not see himself but the white reflection that shown was missing; it looked more like that of a doll's eyes than anything human.

He would not admit it, but he felt different. There was a deep hole in the middle of his heart that sucked in everything; his senses were heightened so everything was in motion, his steps were impacting the ground he walked on.

He came to the stairs he had come from, the way out only a story upwards. The houses were all still intact, though the constant rumbling was bringing the floor to its end.

Ed smiled; there was a light at the top of the tunnel. This was the first glad sight he had seen. With no hesitation he ran up the stairs, only to be interrupted.

Gluttony, the Homunculus that had butchered Dante was starring him in the face. Surprisingly, Ed did not seem alarmed in any way, he didn't even move.

"Why don't I feel anything?" Ed wondered. Fear was not reaching him; in fact Gluttony did not faze him at all. Still he moved into a pose ready for a fight.

Gluttony had become nothing more than a monster lusting for indulgence. He had started to shape into something else entirely, like he had grown two extra arms. He was slobbering all over the steps, having smashed through the side of the wall. Ed looked irritated when his saliva had touched his arm.

"Hey! I just got this arm back." Ed frowned, itching for a fight but he was unarmed.

Ed reared back as the creature dove in for the kill, his teeth barely missing Ed by the ends of his hair. Ed was more nimble he noticed, able to flip out of the way with ease. He was in the moment, dodging like it was second nature. He started to make his way up the stairs, half way there. Still, Gluttony perused him. The earth started to shake yet again, making it easier for Ed.

"Finally, a break." Ed snickered, dodging a chunk of the wall that had come undone. Gluttony however, was now using a different method. To Ed's horror, Gluttony had slipped by on the opposite side of him, having Ed himself about to run into his trap. Ed did not have time to stop; he was still not used to having two legs. All he could do was press his hands together in vain, his alchemy still did not work.

…

…

…

In a split second, in the simple blink of Ed's eyes came his unusual rescuer. With his missing arm and leg, bloodied and lacking of stones, Wrath had thrown his body against Gluttony's side.

Ed slid to a stop on one of the steps as the stars began to fall apart from the impact. The walls had been smashed on both sides from Wrath and Gluttony's abrupt entrances. But now the Homunculi were falling to the ground, several stories down.

Wrath called out to Edward. "BRING MOMMY BACK! PLEASE!"

The boy-like Homunculus pressed his eyes together, about to shed tears if Homunculi had any. His hair flew back as he pressed his arm into Gluttony's throat angrily. "I won't let you kill him! He needs to give her back!"

Ed looked at the path in front of him, the way out. But, he could not continue.

He sighed, frustrated. "Equivalent Exchange." With that, he ran down to save Wrath, he was indebted to him now.  
End chapter


	3. Chapter Three: Not Human

Chapter Three "Not Human"

Gluttony paused there for a second, his body was half mangled from the impact and Wrath was staring him down despite crawling around like a rabid dog.

Wrath growled, sticking his hand into the wound to pull out a soul fragment still within his body. Gluttony started to launch forward again as Wrath devoured he shard with his sharp teeth. Wrath's whole body was tingling; he threw himself back with his remaining arm as the beast had run passed him like a charging animal.

Ed raced back down the steps but he had come into the middle of the fray. There was destruction all over the floor like jagged metal and stone and half broken pipes, and the city was still shaking underneath his feet.

He did not want to think about the fact that this was not something an Alchemist should be capable of, but in repayment he prepared to fight.

"Oh well, better make the most of it." Ed sneered with a half grin, smacking his right arm against a metal pole he saw lying on the ground.

His arm started to change, materializing into the metal he had touched. He held the pole up like a lance and ran in towards Gluttony as he was still distracted by Wrath.

"Hey Gluttony!" Ed egged him on, the Homunculus turning with his voice. "I have something else you can chew on!"

Gluttony let out a loud screech as Ed threw the foul-edged crude weapon into Gluttony's first left arm, causing him immense pain. Wrath was nearly crushed as the twice his size Gluttony nearly smacked him against the wall of an old house.

Ed came in far too close for comfort, trying to regain his weapon since he had missed. Now however, he was in the hands of the disgusting creature, it was holding Ed up by his other arm.

"Damn it! I told you to stop messing with my arms!" Ed used his rock-hard fist and threw it into Gluttony's jawbone, but it did nothing more then make the creature regenerate again.

Wrath was hanging on by a thread right now, both with his sanity and with his fiscal being. He wasn't regenerating because of the last time he saw The Gate.

Ed could feel his hot breath as Gluttony attempted to dispose of him by pulling him apart piece by piece, his feet could not even touch the floor; he had made a mistake in getting so near him. The pole was still lodged into the creature's side, so he decided to make use of it.

Ed took his free arm and started to twist the pole around, all the while groaning in agony as his bones felt like they were being snapped in half. Gluttony moved back for a split second, and that was all Ed needed. He took his arm out of his hold and pulled the pole out, spewing what might be blood in all directions.

Ed thought he was coming up on top finally, when he saw a change of expression of Gluttony's face. He took a good look at him, and looked almost afraid of him, the way he had whenever Dante's name was mentioned in the past, despite that his mind was long gone now.

Gluttony started to flee the scene; even with the regeneration he looked to discover something new about Ed. Everything got quieter, Ed decided to let him run off in order to get Wrath out of there.

Ed set him up acting as his crutch, not with a smile but with the feeling of obligation all about his face.

The wounded Homunculus still looked at Ed with discontent, remembering the way Al had selflessly brought him back, but why had he not used his Alchemy in that fight? It drove at Wrath that all of it was wasted effort. "You can't bring Mommy back… can you…?"

Ed was solemn; he was still recalling Gluttony's reaction to his new appearance. He simply helped Wrath up the stairs as the place started collapsing slowly behind them.

"In the end, you're just like I am now aren't you?" Wrath was almost snarling, like a child turned away from a store window. "The real you killed Mommy, and now he's dead too."

Ed's eyes did not show any signs of change, he was unresponsive in order to keep his mind focused on what he would have to get back; again on a set goal that he would dedicate his life to achieving.

"I want to bring Al back, that's all that matters to me." Ed reminded himself aloud.

Finally, they had come from where Ed had originally entered. The outside light was almost blinding to their unadjusted eyes. Ed and Wrath were reeking of blood; nobody was there to meet with them now, it was all silence.

Ed helped Wrath sit down and then started stretching, looking really refreshed now. "Man, it feels good to have my arms back. I forgot how nice it feels to stretch!"

Wrath was glancing down at the floor now, having lost his only reason for wanting to become human.

Ed actually looked rather pleased; the inside of the church building although deserted was a familiar sight instead of the desolate underground city he's come out of. His arm had become human skin again, but the fox bite was not there…

The wheels in his head were always turning even though he felt more at ease; he was unsure how to bring Al back without Alchemy. "I wonder if there's a reason I can't perform it."

"You can't use Alchemy, unless at least part of you is human," Wrath sounded more than just depressed, it was surprising he spoke at all. "You need to become human."

Ed's eyes opened up, a quiver in his stare like he didn't want to hear it.

"You need the Philosopher's Stone." Wrath looked desperate again, clutching onto Ed's new leg. "If you become human, will you bring Mommy back? You have to!"

Ed turned his head away, his eyes slanting downwards sadly. "I can't make a Philosopher's Stone, that requires human sacrifice and Al wouldn't want that…"  
End chapter


	4. Chapter Four: No Ticket Trip

Chapter Four "No-Ticket-Trip"

Ed gave Wrath a look as if he was offering to allow him to come along with him but Wrath was completely unresponsive to him. After all that went on before, Ed didn't feel strongly either way so he just continued.

Wrath stayed there in silence, letting his hair cover his face like he had done so many years ago, back when he didn't know what he was. "He won't become human, not when he's in denial about being a monster like I am."

Ed was still carrying the weight of what happened on his shoulders, as if he didn't already have enough. He was driven though, the thought of bringing Al back gave him hope but the other part of him was far too based in fact. He was a scientist after all, the way of believing in fairytales like the philosopher's stone should have been unlike him, but desperate recklessness was also both a bad and great character trait of his.

"Well people around here sure are chipper today," Ed was enjoying himself, keeping his mind preoccupied while he watched the people in the little town move about their lives.

The more he walked, the more uncomfortable he began feeling. This was peculiar; it was like all their eyes were still on him as he debated his next course of action.

"I guess I'm getting as much attention as the Ishvalans these days," Ed scoffed, amused.

The bright touch of the sun made his nose twitch a little and the wind was blowing his unbraided hair in his face. He was content though, this was not the first time people took notice of him after all with the walking suit of armor by his side and what Ed would call his: "Incoming-growth-spurt"

"Hey, who left the tiny kid unattended?" Some random bystander accidentally said Ed's taboo insult in the rather untimely faction.

Ed's hair-antenna stuck up from the back of his head and pointed as Ed barred his teeth in protest. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO TINY HE NEEDS PHONEBOOKS TO SEE ACROSS A COFFEE TABLE?"

With that, the old man walked off and the ones staring started to pretend to be busy. Ed found some self satisfaction when he saw he had set things right. "I sure told him off, didn't I Al?"

Without realizing it, Ed had looked upwards and attempted to pound on the thick shell of his younger brother… he'd forgotten almost instantly that Al was not there anymore. Needless to say it was really a bring-down to understate things.

"Yeah, that's right. You went ahead and left me behind didn't you Al? And after all that lecturing from you to think ahead, I guess I wasn't the best influence on you was I?" Ed said this with a smile on his face, almost like he was somehow talking to Al, he could hear the sadness of the irony in his voice.

The loud sound of a train whistle blew out through the air, grabbing Ed's attention. "I wonder where it's headed."

Ed smirked, knowing exactly where those tracks would lead from first glance. This was at least a start for him, something to go on. Without any hesitation he ran towards the train.

The town was awfully close to it, things were working out better than Ed expected they would. There even seemed to be an empty railway car towards the back to sneak on.

"Too bad I lost the watch in this deal; I'm certainly not getting first class." Ed laughed, waiting till the train officer turned his head.

Five, four, three, two, one! The eager Alchemist rushed in to the train, landing squarely in a haystack in the open car. Lucky for him, the train officer had already checked for stowaways before.

Ed hid under the hay until the train started, his little antenna sticking out from the top of the stack. When it started moving, he debated throwing up from the intense rocking. He stopped when he saw the hillside he remembered miles and miles in the distance.

"I guess the next stop's Resembool. I don't really know what'll happen there though." Ed felt a sweat drop run down his face as he forced a worried smile. "Winry's going to kill me; I went and lost her Automail."

Images of a blond daemon with a wrench as big as his head started to flash into his mind, or what other hundred ways she was going to find how to creatively knock his brains out.

More seriously though, he was worried about what she was going to think about him. Thinking of that made him start to brush the hay out of his blond hair. He was a sight, both with the splatters of Gluttony's blood on his clothes that were rather breezy around the chest anyway, and with his eyes. Looking into his reflection on an old tin can he really took notice of how different his eyes were, like they had lost their pigment in some way.

"Winry…" He felt choked up inside thinking of her reacting the way that Rose had.

He bit off more then he could chew really, he knew what Envy was capable of. He let the impression of his brotherly bond with Al and the conflictions of discovering another blood-attachment make him hesitate. Envy had acted no different from what he should have expected. Ed was not looking back anymore though, all his life had been about pushing forward and if it meant all the pain in the world he would endure it to see Al's face again.

He looked at his arm, the one he had wanted so badly but it didn't even seem real anymore. "I hope Winry will accept the fact that… I've changed like this..."  
End chapter


	5. Chapter Five: At Winry's Door

Chapter Five "At Winry's Door"

Ed had nodded off while the train went by; it was strange though; he didn't dream. Normally when the young alchemist tired or even only slight fell asleep his subconscious was alive with colors and images of memories or things he'd seen and experienced. Not this time though. It wasn't something he ever really thought about especially when he had thought life itself to be somewhat like a dream. What did it mean if you had no dream…?

He looked down to see that the hay had gotten all over his blond hair and tangled him to look like some circus attraction. "Heh, I hope Winry doesn't run at the sight of me."

Oh no, there it was again. That thought that had crept into his mind for so long, what Winry might think of this new found image. It wasn't his clothes after all that could be changed easily. But even now his arm had formed into a thin-like-state after touching the hay, forming into the material he touched. He thought to make light of it by seeing them all as kids, him, Al, and Winry yelling at one another over which one was going to grow up the tallest. (Regrettably, he always lost on that end.)

Before he could analyze any more in his fact-based-mind he was interrupted by the train slowing to a stop. This would be a much easier escape as the men were all seeing to the passenger cars.

"Good thing I packed light." Ed smiled, leaping out onto the smooth grassy floor and bolting.

He almost tripped a couple of times, for the life of him he could not get used to his legs or the lack of a metal heel pressing into the ground roughly. It was rather nice if not rough on one who had lost it and forgotten how it felt to have both legs.

There was a lot of farmland to walk through but Ed was at a fast enough pace he should be at Winry's in not too long. The way the clouds moved were so peaceful, like nothing outside could touch it. Al would have stopped to watch them go by but in Edward's memories he was always moving, running like there wasn't anything behind him. He did remember loving the stars though; the light in the window which his mother put out for the two was one of his most treasured moments in his young years.

After Dante met her end and his father vanished from their world entirely Ed should have been freed of all this turmoil but now the empty feeling of not having Al standing beside him was slowly getting to him, if not for his resolve he would probably not be able to move forward at all without him. Turning back to the way he was as a child in front of his mother's grave, he was going to contradict every lesson he ever learned on their journey to find the stone, he was planning on bringing Al back to life.

Before he knew it Ed was in front of Winry's door, the sign that said Rockbell Automail proudly displayed on their porch. What was he going to do now? Impulsive as ever he didn't stop to think about knocking on this particular door because Winry was now the only person he had left who would listen to him.

Ed gulped in his throat with a slight nervousness on his face as much as he tried to hide it. When the door opened the image of a tom-boyish blond-haired girl that was at least a foot or so taller than Edward blinked with complete bafflement at his sudden appearance.

She was going to make a joke about the state Ed was in instantly but saw… his automail was replaced with a flesh and blood right arm. For the first time in her life Winry was speechless. The sudden excitement to see a friend again was wonderful but now she was completely confused. "You… does this mean you and Al found the Stone?"

Ed's eyes turned to the floorboards too ashamed to look her in the eyes. "Winry, can I discuss something with you?"

Resembool was a comfort with the privacy it offered and the lack of distractions, Winry was studying Ed with her eyes but trying not to allow him to avert to any sort of sad memory. "I see your hair's gotten longer." She laughed a little bit, standing next to him as she plucked some of the hay out playfully.

Ed was searching for the words to say, if anything he was overjoyed that Winry didn't take one look at him and treat him like some freak. He smiled only because he realized she was being kind in trying to lighten the mood but he was going to have to break that peace with his next words. "Winry, Al sacrificed himself to save my life after I was killed. I don't know what happened to him and, I'm not sure if my existence means that he's dead or that I'm truly alive at all."

Edward demonstrated this fact by touching the metal on Winry's earring and watching her face in pure shock when his arm materialized into the same substance instead of the previous flesh. Winry had not seen everything that he and Al did but she understood enough to know what that meant.

"I…might not be the Edward you know..."  
End chapter


	6. Chapter Six: Changing

Chapter Six "Changing"

It was as if Ed's words took the life right out of Winry. There were now so many questions set on her shoulders and the thought of Al no longer alive was too difficult to bear. She tried to put it at the back of her mind; pretend it wasn't real so that it could not impact her in that way. But Ed looked the same, talked the same and came to her for support the way he always had, what did that mean if he was not the real Edward?

She gently closed her eyes and set her hand around her other arm, closing in the flood of emotions running through her at all this shock. Edward began to sense a rush of guilt, the last thing he wanted to do was see her cry and he knew she was holding it in to spare his feelings.  
Still the clouds parted and the sun came in as if nothing at all was wrong, a moving setting for anyone not torn down by reality. He didn't say anything anymore, because he started to let it sink in as well.  
If he was not Edward, than that means he stole Edward's body and all his private thoughts and memories. Was this equivalent exchange? If Alphonse truly was dead did that mean even his pure soul was not enough to bring Edward back?

Standing there in quiet, the two went over their tragedy. Finally, Winry spoke out. "If you're not Edward, than bring Al back. That's the first thing he would do."

It seemed everything they said to each other was hurting one another, maybe he should have left her alone and unaware but it was too late for that now. The blond strands of her hair sunk down to her shoulders and moved in the wind as she set her arm on his shoulder one time before running back to the house as fast as she could. Even she was not able to contain it in any longer, not when she was looking at the face that she would never see again. He was an illusion, a ghost and a fabricated image, flesh brought out from who once was one of her dearest friends.

It was like he was walking in a daze, blindly following the road in front of him as he tried to forget how she looked before she ran out on him; accepting that he was no more than a part of her imagination and that the real person she knew along with his sweet younger brother were lost forever. His bare feet scraped across the rocks and debris until he realized he was standing in the presence of his old house, or rather, the house of the real Edward Elric.

"Damn it!" Edward struck his fist to ground over and over in frustration.

But right before he continued he stopped and looked at his hand. He squeezed it into a fist, watching it turn into the material that he could only guess as the ground of the peaceful town of Resembool. He was shaking, terrified at what he was and what he stole from somebody else. Everything was the original Edward's, his emotions, his personality, and even his right arm now fully restored.

Winry's words echoed in his mind and he desperately tried the one thing he was unable to imitate from Ed, Alchemy. He struck his hands together until they felt raw, ignoring the fact his right hand was switching between materials, wood, nails, ash, and ground; his body absorbed the information like the Homunculus he was. He kept scarring himself but the wounds would just heal in a purple glow, the way Lust or Envy could not be harmed. Then he stopped, having reached his limit.

"I'm sorry Al…" he said in a whisper, laying his eyes to rest there in the ruin of their house. "I don't have what Ed had."

It felt weird referring to another Edward but it wouldn't have been the first time, the Original Edward took the body from the Ed on the other side of The Gate too. Even when it started raining he didn't do anything, he didn't have a sense of cold anyway. He was being punished for flying too high to the sun, only to come crashing down due to his own selfish pride as a young boy, what the other Ed did to create what he was now. The sun was gone now, only darkness shown at this time of night and yet the stars were still beautiful through all this. Nothing could touch the place Edward's heart lay, there in the small town where his mother and brother grew up.

He blinked when a raindrop pressed into his eye, rubbing it off with his other hand. There was a twinkle in the dusk, something reddish and unnatural. He dragged his feet up so he could stand on his knees and squinted to see it. There in the mists of their house was a small remnant of something, probably left by Hohenheim, thrown there years ago in defiance of the love Dante tried to offer him after he had found Trisha.

It made Ed cringe, it was a stone fragment… a soul crafted into a shard of glass-shaped red liquid. Never mind that this reminded him of what his deadbeat father did to remain in the body that kept the secret from his mother, what disturbed him the most was the way he could not help looking at it. There was something wrong with him, it was as if he was lusting for it the moment he looked at it; before he even knew it he had pulled it out from under the wood and was holding it in his hand.

He was trembling; it was like instinctively he craved this substance. This was the final revelation, it was true, he was not Ed but the Homunculus crafted with Edward's remains. This was enough to confirm it once and for all for him, nothing in the factual mind striped from Ed could deny this fact now. That tiny sliver of hope was dead the second his non-human eyes spotted the thing needed to sustain a body like his.

Angry at himself for believing different he fought against his nature as badly as he could, trying to drown it out with the images that did not belong to him, Al screaming out in protest. His fingers weakened under the pressure, only two movements before he could let it drop to the floor. In the background he could swear he saw the real Edward standing there, his hands in his pockets and a disapproving look on his face. He was in disbelief, Edward was looking down on him disappointed, the shadow of the self he once had until vanishing from his sight.

With one last attempt Ed managed to let the stone slide downwards in his hand, until committing his first sin as his true self. He slipped it into his mouth and the stone burned as it came down his throat, the life coming into his own. Edward's memories began to fade, until only remnants of Al and Winry remained. He felt his teeth with his hand, seeing that his fangs had grown sharp. He wanted to be Edward, all along that was the only thing he truly longed for, all for his being, and all for his Pride.  
End chapter


	7. Chapter Seven: Broken Ones

Chapter Seven "Broken Ones"

Wrath crawled to the side of the church, letting the light come in from the stain glass window down on his empty face. Everything he built himself on was all pointless, he wanted to take everything from Edward and now he was gone, he wanted to live for the mother he chose as Sloth and now she was dead. It was a painful existence, lying on a cloud slowly dwindling.

The only comfort was solitude, he had no hunger for what he could not have any more; unable to administer the wrath of his anger and impulsiveness.

"Edward?" Wrath squinted, looking to the end of the hallway where the voice came from.

Edward's Teacher stood there solemnly with her eyes focused straight as an arrow. In all her life few things made her cool-personality break under pressure. Her dreaded locks of black hair spiked out a little like she had slept on it wrong the last night.

Wrath lowered his eyes, filled with contempt for this woman. While she had treated Ed and Al like sons, he was nothing like either of them. He was a mistake she was going to correct and Edward offered to do for her once before. As far as he was concerned it might have been better if she never found him before his complete transformation.

She saw him now, leaning against the glass as the sun set in the outside world. Her expression did not chance but her lip did slightly dwindle, like she was considering what to say before Wrath spoke out first. "What? Looking for the Alchemist? He's dead; another one like us emerged instead."

Wrath sneered as he said this, raising his voice to lash out. "Mommy's little Boy, huh? Well you can forget him! HE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE GIVEN ME HIS WHOLE BODY THE FIRST TIME HE SAW THE GATE!"

If her heart could reflect her state it would have stopped right now. Izumi was the one to let Edward go running after Al, she didn't even try to hold him back... this was her fault... Wrath was very bitter, it was eating him up inside. But deep down he hated seeing Al dive in for Ed only to disappear in a flashing light, being human didn't seem like anything more than a short existence. Why did he want to be human so badly?

Izumi ran up to Wrath and punched the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces on Wrath's head despite his reaction to it. Her hand was bleeding yet she made no outcry, just set her jaw looking as angry as she ever had before.

Everything went as silent as a graveyard as Izumi stood over Wrath shuddering with her clenched fist. And for the first time Wrath started to let down his walls, completely blown away by the way she took the pain in her hand. Izumi looked at him with the same eyes, unmovable, and grabbed his one arm to pull him to her level.

She was silent but in some strange way Wrath could read her thoughts as if... she was crying out to him. Slowly, she put her bleeding hand in front of him, letting him see the blood drip down onto the floor. This was something Wrath could not understand, the way humans were fragile but the more he thought of it the more it captivated him.

There was great strength in Izumi, the only time he saw her really cry was as she gave her child to The Gate, the child that in turn created him. Maybe this meant humans had soemthing more to them. He still didn't fully know what it was Izumi was trying to say to him but it might have been that it was not meant to be understood, only acknowledged that they were two different creatures.

"If you want, I can see about getting you a replacement for that leg." She said this in a monotonic voice completely devoid for what he knew she had to be feeling for the loss of Edward and Alphonse.

It was almost as if she was empty now. Maybe this meant she had come close to not being human anymore or maybe it meant she was far greater than any human, it was something he would have to decide on later. He still hated this woman but he had nowhere else to go missing an arm and leg, he wasn't strong enough to move on forward like Edward did. So, without a word he agreed to it for now. She moved close to him taking him under his arm to help him walk, being his crutch. Both of them left the church with the shattered window, broken in spirit together.

-

Winry slammed the door to her house and pressed her back against it, holding her mouth and shaking in fear of what she had seen. It seemed like her whole life was spent waiting for Ed and Al to come home, to be that beacon of light that flashed for them after Trisha died. What now? She didn't have the answer to the question.

Her legs gave weigh and she slipped to the floor against her entrance, trying to think of what to do. Trying to block out the thought of how Ed and Al died was torture, all she wanted was see them accomplish what they sought out for but it all appeared to be in vein.

With a loud slam she was jolted to her feet, somebody hammering on the door with no restrain. She tried to compose herself but she didn't have much time, whoever was on the other side was far too impatient. As she turned the doorknob it was thrust open with the edge of the door slamming her on the face knocking her to the floor.

She held her cheek from the rush of pain and adrenaline but when she looked up she for the first time in her life felt frightened looking up at this figure, when she made her way to see his face… he was smiling…  
End chapter


	8. Chapter Eight: Hand Held Out

Chapter Eight "Hand Held Out"

Winry tried not to look at him dead in the eye, to see the rest of that face. His shadow cast down on her so that the sunlight was blocked from entering the room. She couldn't believe it, she was actually frightened of this person, the image of one of those dearest to her heart.

Still, there was a part of her that wanted to believe that Ed was still in there, that everything they knew about those created with alchemy was a lie. This was naive and she was aware of it, but it made it hard not to trust in the lie when it was staring you in the face.

"Winry, I want you to come with me." The words came out of his mouth, but it didn't sound like something Edward would say with an expression like that.

She made a mistake and let herself see his eyes and she saw that though they were gold and shining they were blank and bare. His eyes were always burning like fire, so filled with passion that nobody could ignore them. He was by no means perfect but he did have something in him that not many others had, a drive and a strong spirit.

Winry looked up with pity on her face and almost turned her head away from him when she felt fingers around the back of her neck, he held her by the top of her hair.

"Listen, I need your help if I want to bring Al back." Those words were also hollow and empty; the thing most important to Edward was being repeated by a lifeless doll for what Winry could only guess as a tool to persuade her.

"You're hurting me." She said with slight struggle in her voice, she tried to pry the grip off of her but he didn't appear to get it.

He was different than he was before, it was as if he had forgotten how human beings were supposed to be and how they were supposed to act towards one another. He only tightened his grip when she tried to pull him back.

"What's the matter? I thought that's what you wanted." He said. "Don't you humans like it when we do what you ask?"

What was most disturbing was how innocently he said this, like Edward might have as a little boy… if he never cared. He pushed her back to the floor right into the curve of a stare, whacking Winry in the back of the neck. She held it from the jolt of pain and got back on her feet, she had about all she could take from this matter.

"So you really aren't human, are you?" Winry didn't have any malice in her voice but instead it was filled with sympathy for this creature.

"Don't look at me like that," He said with a stutter in Edward's voice. "I don't like it, makes me think you're looking down on me."

"I've decided that I'm going to bring him back for you," he smiled again, shadows appearing on his face. "That way, I can become him."

These were words spoken once before by others of his kind, Lust, Wrath, many of them wished to become human but this was much more personal to Winry. All her sympathy left her and was replaced by undying anger, how dare he threaten to take his place.

"Now I know for sure you're not him," Winry wiped all the remainder that she had been crying off her face and stood firm with clenched fists. "He would never have any other reason to bring back Al, it would all be for his sake and not for himself."

He was shocked a little by this, there were lingering thought left by Ed and bits and pieces of his past inside but he pushed them back when he regained a hold of himself and snickered before he spoke. "Heh, yeah you're right, I'm not Ed. I'm the part of him he left behind, what he cast aside and Al created, I'm his body, and I'm his Pride."

"His Pride huh," She didn't know what to say to that, how to respond where he would leave her and become a faded memory.  
"Do you want me to bring him back or not?" The newly named Pride offered his hand one more time and Winry was left with the decision.

One part of her wanted to cast him out, forget her was ever here but the thought of never seeing either of them again was a lot to bare; they were the closest family she had after losing her parents. If it was Edward in her place, he might suffer through being with a fake in order to bring back what was taken from him. It would mean ignoring everything she thought and felt about this new person but if it was to save Al and maybe even Edward… it was almost nothing at all to go on in this denial.

Heaven was so far away now as she took the hand that might very well bring her to Hell, all she could hope was to somehow find the secret to bringing back others, the very thing Edward suggested to her when she was a child mourning her parents. Edward also told her many times that it was a mistake and that you can't undo what's been done, she was going to be making the same errors with no promise of results.

At the same time, she couldn't let a person wear Ed's face and do harm, if she was there alongside him maybe she could stop him before he turned too far to the path Envy and the others took.

He pulled her closer to him, holding her hand like she now belonged to him. "This'll be great Winry! Ha! I'm starting to feel like the real deal already."

Despite how cheerful his laugh and statement was after he walked with her across the path from her front door, Winry couldn't help but be sick inside.  
End chapter


	9. Chapter Nine: Walking Beside Him

Chapter Nine "Walking Beside Him"

It was strange following him now. He couldn't figure out what was making her act so peculiar when she had at least listened to him before. What had changed? Maybe it was the way he came back to her and even now would not let go of her hand. It was cold now and he did not keep a gentle grip on her that even with Automail Edward would consider. But there was no point in comparing the two anymore, it was too late to turn back now.

The way she acted towards him now was going to be important, she couldn't let go of his comment earlier but she was trying hard to be strong now. Her head was held up as she walked and she did not complain once, letting any sense of anger or fear escape from her so as not to alarm him.

"Sorry if I worried you before, it's not like I wanted to break down the door." He tried to joke but it wasn't working for Winry right now.

He wasn't oblivious to her, he had forgotten a lot of the important things and gained new urges but she did not turn him away flat like Rose did and that was something useful to him. He wasn't really sure why he needed her in the first place, she wasn't an Alchemist, though she at least had human arms that were capable of touch without turning into something new.

The rules of Alchemy were flowing through him right now, every step they took till the sun went down he was trying to figure a way around this, a loop-hole to get him what he wanted. In a way he really did want Al back but the attachment he had to him left him the moment he swallowed that stone, as well as anything that he clung to keeping him half-way human.

Winry was no exception to the rule but for some reason he just wanted somebody to be around, she was pale-faced and struggling not to cast him out as well, it might have been that he looked and moved so much like Ed that there was an odd effect on her.

"Maybe there's something I can do to get through to him, if he's like Ed than he'll have his traits." Winry was focusing her energy on him, not the alchemy.

"Hey, it's funny; you're a lot shorter than you were before." Winry said with a knowing smile, forgetting for a moment who she was talking to.

Pride stopped for a moment and furrowed his brow, there was no real reaction however other than a few words.

"Weird, I feel like I should be angry with you for something. Wonder why that is." He said flatly and uninterested in his own sentence.

If not for how horrifying this all was she might have laughed at the fact that Ed's short complex transcended even death.

"Do you have a plan at all?" She was too uncomfortable addressing him with Ed's name and the other name he chose was a lot more eerie so she just ignored it all together.  
"I was thinking about picking up where good old Dad left off," Pride said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I've managed to hold on to some information about Alchemy from the other me; will probably come in handy by the time we get there."  
"You plan to walk all the way here? Because honestly you might not be tired but I'm beginning to be." Winry said, avoiding looking at him in the eyes.

He stopped as if inconvenienced and sighed. It was getting dark it was no surprise that she was exhausted by now with his steady pace. His clothes were still damaged from his fight with Gluttony too so he was not very appealing either.

"Alright then, guess it's back the way I came." He pointed off to the train that was still stopped for the night far off.

They were up on a large hill looking down on the quiet unaware world in front of them, the town they were leaving behind. The clouds were covering the moon in the sky and it let down little lights to greet the land below. The train was still letting out little puffs of smoke like they were checking the engine for their next trip in the morning.

Winry frowned, not liking the idea very much. Pride finally let go of her hand for a moment though, giving her relief from his iron-like grip. He was being friendly with her today which was a contrast from what he was when he was aggressive for her to come with him; it was either subconscious or he was making her less threatened on purpose. It wouldn't surprise her if he was trying to manipulate her; the mind he was created from was extremely perceptive before, enough to be a prodigy in Alchemists worldwide.

It was uncertain if she was going to change him and it was looking like a pipe dream, however, he was not yet to the point that Envy was he could at least resemble a human a little. Winry breathed out and in again, staying calm and deciding to make an effort to keep him from hitting that next point.

So this time, she took his hand instead and held it with no restrain or regret. Pride flinched, certainly not expecting her to show him any kindness. That took him off guard, though she gave him only a frown it was the first bit of contact he had gotten without forcing himself on her.

He turned his head from her, almost seeming, shy, and proceeded to quicken his pace toward the train.  
End chapter


	10. Chapter Ten: Reoccurring Threat

Chapter Ten "Reoccurring Threat"

When they stood before the train people were staring at him, this time he was not so able to brush them off as their effect was different now that we was not human. Winry tried to lead him to stay out of sight but he was not having it, refusing to buckle down to what others thought of him; or at least that's what she'd like to think rather than he just detested them too much to care.

As soon as they turned a blind eye Pride jumped onto the same part of the Train he took to get there, changed drastically from his last trip. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the car several feet from the ground and she sat down uncomfortably.

She didn't remember being so quiet in her life but there simply was nothing left to say, she was not sure of what he even planned to do or that it was all a lie to get her to go with him. The whistle of the train sounded off an hour later in what seemed like a lifetime of silence. She did not look his way and he did not bother giving her any attention.

There was a big jolt when they started going, throwing her back a little to a pile of hay and what appeared to be… blood.

Winry held her hand to her mouth when she saw it and Pride immediately shoved her aside to take a look. Laying there in the hay to what would be a final resting place was remains of some person, torn in half and all around the back of the rail car.

"This looks like Gluttony." Pride bit his lip in annoyance.

Winry remembered something mentioned of Gluttony from something Al said once and she realized at once what this meant.

"But how did Gluttony get in here when he's larger than before." Pride thought out loud, seeing the doors could slide but being confused as to why an animalistic monster would even take the time.

"This is unsettling." Pride said, scouring the barrels of hay and throwing it back looking for any more clues as to what happened.

What he found… was more temptation. Laying there were a few stone-fragments like the ones he saw Gluttony spit out before, or what he took from the grave site.

"Wh-What are you looking at?" Winry got on her feet and came up close to see.

Before anything could be thought about this the train whistle started being blown over and over again, as if it was done in a blind panic screaming out for help. The speed of the train sped up at least twice as fast and to the tip of its capabilities and Winry found it hard to stand.

Pride grabbed the door of the car and hung his head out to see; there it was, on the side of the train biting into the surface like a mad dog. To add more shock was that he was not only there attempting to get inside the passenger car but he was being fought off by what looked to be-

"Miss Izumi!" Winry exclaimed.

Fighting through the window with a melting crowbar she kept him out of the inside as best she could, screaming angrily as the passengers panicked running all through the train trying to escape.

"We have to get to the passenger car!" Winry tugged at Pride's arm.

He scoffed, if they all died in that car it wouldn't matter but he disliked Gluttony more than he wanted to stand there. He took the stone fragment… the human lives incased in hard liquid and tucked it in the glove-like material around his arm.

Winry was having a difficult time moving across the car they were in let alone finding a way to an entirely different area of the train. As she tried to figure out a way to get there Pride was already on his way there, inching along the side of the walls of their car, glad to have the chance to take all his anger out on something at last. He should have killed Gluttony when he had the chance, now he was fully ready to rid him from their world for all time.

"I wonder if the other Ed would have the guts to do this." Pride snickered, pressing his heels into the hot metal sides of the screeching train.

Winry looked down and saw the tracks running through time so fast it was almost blurry; the conductor had to have had an accident of some kind. She looked Izumi's way and watched her coughing blood as she pushed Gluttony back from the window and gained the resolve to follow Pride's example.

Gluttony was in a frenzy now, chewing on the walls trying to wear them down, he had another head and was grotesque and making horrifying noises.

Pride was about three cars away now, grinning with excitement to sink his claws into something. "Hey! Gluttony! Come get a bite over here! Fresh meat!"

Gluttony turned his head recognizing his voice and snarling. Pride was glad to catch his attention, he was gaining speed as he ignored the scrapes to the soles of his feet, in a few moments he would be close enough to him. His arm changed physical substance as he touched both the wooden walls of the train to the metal casing that closed its doors and what kept the structure itself stable. The smoke was drifting from the top of the train to smack them in the face with ashy cloud.

Winry got to the end of their car but instead of leaping across each opening and between-car area she found the door to the beginning of the passenger car, where three cars away Izumi was seen fighting. She was ambushed by people trying to jump out or looking for some end of the train and she was almost pushed to the ground entirely.

"Miss Izumi? Are you here?" She knew she was a few more cars away but she couldn't help calling out.

Instead of Izumi's answer she got Wrath on the floor, knocked down by some of the people panicking. He starred up at her with a frustrated expression, trying to remember how she knew the person who brought him to life and where he'd seen her from.

Winry moved down to help him up but he batted her away, there was no time for this now yet he was filled with some misplaced annoyance for her. "I won't take your pity! I'll fight him with no leg if I have to."

He crawled to the nearest seat with a window and Winry saw the mark on his leg, the ouroboros tattoo but his other leg was gone entirely with dried blood still covering the stump. She wished now that she had her automail supplies with her if he was on their side, he was like Pride was but he had much more control over himself even with the bad attitude. She had no idea how all this was even happening, people were still yelling and trying to get off the train or huddling in a corner of a booth with their children right now.

The door to the next car smashed open and Izumi came out blaring and in search of something, when she saw Wrath she came to his aid and noticed Winry.

"My god, what are you doing here?" Izumi set her arm under Wrath's to help him up.

Wrath said nothing but his eyes told her that he wanted out there on the edge of the train, where Pride and Gluttony were inching closer to each other. She nodded and propped the window open.

Wrath was Izumi's creation and what embodied her sins. He was ready to go after Gluttony now too but whether it was for the same reasons as Pride or not was not certain.

"Get to the other side of the Train." Izumi said loud and firm to Winry, still somehow calm as chaos brewed. "You need to stop the train before any more people die."  
End chapter


	11. Chapter Eleven: Loss OF Trust

Chapter Eleven "Loss OF Trust"

Pride nearly slammed into the metal bar hanging from the side of the train as Gluttony leapt onto his car, he had to get on top of it fast before its massive jaws hooked into him. The force of the wind and the extreme speed was pulling back on him so much that even his impressive strength was being tested.

Gluttony's drool was like acid on its mouth or at least that's how it appeared, its completely black eyes echoing a great white shark diving for the kill.

"Looks like you're just in time for the party." Pride scoffed confidently.

The odds did appear stacked against him but it was not going to dawn on him now, not when he had the chance to fight like he'd been wanting. This was a creature of pure desire, consumed in its own need, much like he was now only amplified. There was not much time now though they were heading for the next stop soon and it would most certainly meet its end at the last stop where the huge metal berries sat. Everyone inside the train was in danger of meeting a cruel fate and he was not sure how much of an impact was needed to kill him, although if he was a homunculus than he would need Ed's remains before he could truly die.

Gluttony was getting closer, dodging the trees that scraped by the side of the track overhead and this gave him his chance. Holding in laughing eagerly Pride dug his newly-formed metal hand into the side of the car and hoisted himself upwards to where he had the high ground now looking down on Gluttony.

Gluttony looked upwards and sneered just as a tree branch bashed one of his heads. There were no moments where the train stopped its inconsistent pace so there were jolts and bumps so much Pride nearly flew off. But now, he was in the worst pain he had ever experienced. Right as Pride looked away for a split second, distracted by the tree that slugged part of Gluttony, his other pair of jaws clamped right into his left arm, biting all the way to the bone.

He let out a ringing scream for it felt like his arm was being ripped out of the socket, and it was moments away from being a reality. He bit into his lip cutting it with his own teeth as he attempted to peer down at his arm, which he could now see right through to the marrow. Gluttony was reveling in his strong hold on him and was readying to make his way up to biting off his head. The wounds on Pride kept trying to regenerate making it even more painful, the slight glow coming up and across him like electricity.

He was unsure how to get out of this now but before he could think Gluttony succeeded in breaking it clean off. As it was going to enjoy it's pray an interrupted yelled his way.

"YOU'RE NOT BREAKING OFF THE ARM THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE!" Wrath was too late when he said this but the anger fueled him.

He crawled like a spider across the top of the train, pushed up there by Izumi who was in complete shock after seeing Pride, the one who looked like Edward. Wrath inched along quickly now, with an arm and leg missing not being human was what gave him an edge.

As soon as he made it to Gluttony he stuck his hand around one of his throats, chocking him violently. His neck itself was larger than his head now so it was not doing any good but it gave Pride enough time to get off the train's roof waiting for his arm to restore.

Wrath watched Gluttony's look of confusion turn into a desperate hate and lust for his blood, already soaked with Pride's after tearing off his left arm. Izumi was not able to climb onto the roof because it was simply not built to climb; the only thing seen was the indent Pride made with his arm to pull himself up. Wrath was getting nowhere fast.

"You monster! How can you be like me? IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO US?" Wrath could not stop taking out his misfortune on others, there was a truth to his given name as he was ready to call down the fire even if his anger was unrelated.

As Pride swung down through the window Winry ran right into him from the other door, running for the conductor's car. She gasped, seeing his arm was missing, a mirrored image flashing in her mind of the past only this was the wrong side.

Pride starred at her for a few seconds and then glanced out the window, his arm was glowing slowly and his body reforming but he needed to think of a way to stop this before he would ultimately loose to Gluttony.

And then, everything got quiet. The equations he had held on to from the other him was echoing in his mind, the things Edward dare not try after The Gate sent him information. There was a way to destroy Gluttony and the way he could do it was standing right in front of him.

"Winry, I need your arms." Pride said in haste.

Winry could not imagine he meant to take her hands right off so she asked. "What do you mean?"

He corrected himself. "I don't mean it like that; I mean I need you to try Alchemy for me."

This was absurd; she didn't know anything about Alchemy and even if she did there was nothing she could do in this situation. Still he grabbed her hands and looked her right in the eyes.

"Alchemy is preformed through knowledge and skill but even knowing how I don't have human hands, maybe if I think the right thoughts and hold on to you it will work as you press your hands together." What Pride wasn't telling her was that the only way for this to work was for him to defy the laws and use the stone fragment hidden under his glove. There was no logical way for this plan to work otherwise.

Winry was alarmed but he was speaking so fast and so urgently it was hard to react. "This sounds too complicated to work."

Pride blinked once and moved her down to the floor of the car with his hands firmly on hers. "I'm asking you to trust me."

It was difficult to say no to that, especially when he was fighting so hard before. She took a deep breath; let him hold her hands and they both clapped together. The stone under his glove started to shine and through some fluke alchemy did start to work, thanks to the fake philosopher's stone. Pride smiled with a disturbing look on his face and the bottom of the car broke under their feet.

Within seconds Pride and Winry were falling through the bottom of the car as he grabbed her and rolled until they stopped somewhere on the tracks, his scars taking time to heal as if it was any other normal person it would have killed both him and Winry. She had a big gash in her head thanks to a fallen piece of the train but now she was facing a greater terror.

As they slowed to a stop Gluttony came down through the top of the train and smashed into the inside, the entire thing was breaking apart and people called out from the different cars. Pride and Winry's cheated Alchemy. There was no way of knowing if Wrath and Izumi made it out alive but it was apparent that nobody inside did for now there was silence, Gluttony's heads were crushed over two huge parts of the train's metal sides and would take a long time before he could restore himself though immortal.

Winry was unable to fathom the damage they had done, that she herself created. All those people that ran by her, gone, crushed to death or worse and she didn't even think it through enough to see the lack of sympathy invested in Pride's heart. Worse still, he began laughing sarcastically.

"I KNEW IT! HA!" Pride loved the sheer horror all over Winry's being, having murdered dozens of people without knowing it. "I knew it!"

Dust rose into the air and the smoke from the top of the train scattered, everything was quiet and unmoving down in front of them, a pile of wreckage.

He got up close to Winry and grabbed the back of her hair, squeezing it so it hurt her a great deal as he needed her to listen very carefully. "You really did admire the real Edward, didn't you? So much so that you would risk the laws of nature and all you believed in a single moment where he told you to trust him? Well now you know what a FOOL you've been!"

He threw her back, feeling shattered by what she had done and his cruel, vile and loathsome words. "And now, we know there's a way around the laws! I just need a human's soul in a fake stone and we can cheat anything! Isn't that wonderful Winry! We can bring Al back after all."

This was insulting, that was not enough for human transmutation to work and he knew it. Winry was fiery and filled with unbreakable spirit, or at least that's how Pride knew Edward felt about her. That spirit was broken right now as she looked down with blood on her hands and it was what he had really been aiming for when he asked her to come with him, to feel like he beat the real Edward.

He continued to laugh at her, watching her slam her fist into the ground when again he saw Ed's shadow on the horizon. Ed did not pity him anymore, now he was clearly angry. Whether this was all in Pride's mind he did not know but it got his attention, he stopped laughing and was weighed down himself by Ed's image, what he could never be.  
End Chapter


	12. Chapter Twelve: Hate

Chapter Twelve "Hate"

Winry was shaken to the core, her insides were screaming out yet she could not say a word.

"Ed was a failure anyway; he never brought Al's body back, just died on the floor with a hole in his chest. If I'd been in his place-" Pride's sentence was interrupted by Winry's fist and complete rage.

He was shocked she could be so violent; her fist was like a truck hitting him in the jaw. What surprised him the most though, was that she held him by his shirt; this time he was the one who was going to listen.

"Don't you DARE talk about Edward that way!" Her words could move mountains and her hands were shuttering back and forth yet the grip was so strong.

Everything she felt and everything she and Ed had, was proven by the tender and somehow great strength in her voice. "I'm going to have to live with the fact those people died for the rest of my life but at least I have a life to live! You're not fit to have his voice let alone abuse it to get to me!"

Pride did not expect this from her, he thought he had made a dent in the other Edward's memories and had been able to shed his deepest thoughts and desires but they were still hidden in him somehow. Sloth herself said she remembered being Ed and Al's Mother, it was why she wanted them dead so badly so she could stop being reminded that she could never be the real Trisha. Pride hated to think that's what he was doing now, he honestly could care less about all the people he killed so why then did Winry matter? What was different from before?

Winry was angrier than she had ever been in her life, she did not know how Ed died or how it was to see him lying there and in the cruelest way this imposter dared to speak with his mouth and have the same tone Ed would use for simple jokes back when he was alive. There was no forgiving this person now, if he was even a person, all the resolve to endure anything was shattered as she starred at him while he laughed at her.

He looked so innocent right now too, like he was trying to figure her out. His newly regenerated hand was on his cheek feeling the bruise she left and acting like he did nothing wrong his entire existence. It was a mistake to forget that he was not human and that he was no substitute for the real thing, there was another sin to set on her shoulders for she had started to forget the real person she grew up with and cared for all this time.

Wrath and Izumi was in her thoughts, she hoped they got away but she did not want to go and check; for if the worst was true she might actually try to destroy Pride herself out of anger and she couldn't bare to be stirred up any more.

Her blood was boiling and she wished she could do something about it, rewind time to where she never knew what happened to Ed and Al or what kind of creature they made in desperation. "If you don't bring them back, I'll kill you myself."

"You really mean that, don't you?" He tilted his head in curiosity. "You get so mad when other people die and you're willing to take a life yourself? Humans really are a big contradiction."

"Keep talking and I won't wait to keep my word." Winry was not being gentle any more; all she wanted now was for him to die right now and then.

Gluttony was still trapped under the metal but it was not going to take him long to get out. There were no people to kill now but Winry wasn't going to take that chance, not after what happened.

"Pride, you need to stop him from taking any more lives." Winry called him by his new name now and took Izumi's words from before. She was firm and honest and masking her great desire for vengeance on this monstrosity.

Pride didn't understand why but he was almost amused by her, the way she ordered him around without regard to the fact it would be simple to end her life as much as those on the train. He liked it, the lack of any empathy for him anymore. The pity was gone and so was the hope of him being anything like the real thing, just how he wanted it.

Gluttony was sick-looking with his necks under scrap metal and various other thing all over him. It took Pride a good five to ten minutes just to walk there let alone find himself standing where he wouldn't get blood on him. Winry was there, she was the one with the eyes in the real Edward's place, another face that judged him. It looked like a war zone, charred bodies were everywhere and the night sky was not providing enough light for him to walk about property. His bare feet were pressing into all sorts of things and nothing made it easy.

If there was any justice he would be the one in his own blood and not the civilian and his wife he noticed to his right. It almost would have been better if he transmuted them, saved him the trouble of looking for any more stone fragments. He had only eaten two; he couldn't imagine how many more he would need to continue in his current state. If he never found the first one, he might not have been able to accept who he was.

At last the hold on Gluttony loosened and with his strength he lifted it up and grabbed him by one of his heads. It was large and heavy even with the strong arms. His right arm had been switching a lot when he touched the other things and now it stayed the same as ever. He was holding something very dangerous with his two arms and if he regained consciousness he would have another fight on his hands, what he deserved was to be ripped apart by this thing but instead he dragged it along and signaled to Winry to follow.

Much time was made up, the Church was not too far off and they might actually make it because of the increased speed of the train. But no amount of talk would sway Winry's hatred now, no matter how much time they gained.

"We should be able to take him without being seen in with the night as cover. There's a Church, inside it is a passage down to the underground where Dad and Dante met up and where the real Ed and Al had their last breath." He said it this way on purpose and waited to speak it until Winry caught up to him.

The grin was still on his face and red liquid was all over his feet from where he walked, unaware of the eyes of Wrath that peered up at him from the wreckage as they walked along the way.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Another Beast

Chapter Thirteen "Another Beast"

Winry was absolutely exhausted now she had no sleep whatsoever and there were even hints of sunrise now. The emotional toll on her body was something to consider as well, mostly she was hanging on by her resolve right now.

Pride was still wearing a smirk as he pushed on in front of her, promising her the Church would be close as he dragged Gluttony's charred body in his arms, holding the jaw shut in case the main head woke up, the other head was still not fully regenerated, slowed by the shrapnel in its skull.

Her eyes were unmoving and focused, unyielding after what this monster put her through. She was a complete mess, her hair was a nightmare and her skirt had traces of different debris you could only have if you were taking things apart like she did with him unknowingly.

Behind her she heard a weird rustling noise but was too tired to take notice of it, especially around where they were now where it was otherwise deserted. A town was around the corner but at this hour it was unlikely to run into anyone but the earliest risers. Still, she hoped that if they saw them they would run or hide from the boy carrying the huge monster in his arms and the girl who trailed behind.

"You say this Church was where Ed and Al were last?" Winry said, not slowing her pace or showing emotion in front of Pride.

He was a manipulator no doubt, in the back of her mind she wondered if that might be how Edward would have turned out if nobody cared about him like his mother and brother did. A being without purpose is a being lost some might say, Edward was certainly never without purpose in his life.

Pride didn't want to answer her, it was either because he didn't see the need to or that the real Edward's spirit was still lying on his mind. As the time went by silently and without any response from Pride, they came closer to the place that it all ended and where Pride began. Winry was more firm this time she asked.

"It was Envy who killed him, am I right?" she said with her tone far more demanding.

In a few seconds of pause, he decided to reassure her. "Yes, he distracted him and stuck his hand through his heart, pathetic really." Pride said. "It's sad; if he didn't care so much he might not have been tricked. Half-brother or whatever you might call it, he still wasn't human, the same way I'm not.

She bit her lip, wishing she had never asked at all.

When they entered they saw signs of others there, the pews were covered with red stain and other such things, what was not there when Pride left...

"What went on here?" Winry said, stammering a little from the shock of it all.  
"That's strange, I have Chubby right here." Pride said referring to Gluttony.

He plopped him down for a second so he could be free to see what went on. It was almost as if a huge beast broke through around here and chewed on everything. The blood was something strange though, it was far too much to be from one human.

"Might as well have been a Dragon, eah Winry?" Pride said, attempting to be humorous again.  
"RIGHT YOU ARE PIPSQUEAK!" From the shadows of the top of the stain-glass ceiling came a large serpent bearing teeth at least three feet wide and sharper than razor-blades.

Pride's jaw loosened in honest shock, it was at least forty feet wide with scales and terrifying strength as it slithered closer to them both, breaking anything in its path. The most frightening thing about this colossal lizard was not the fact an actual dragon was in their presence... but that it had the voice of Envy.

Its jaw was bleeding and it was snarling. It stopped suddenly right before it took a large bite out of Pride and… bared back. "You're not the Pipsqueak, are you?"

Pride frowned and Winry hid behind one of the foundation's pillars. This was impossible, how could he take the form of something so big and more-over, why did he not take the chance to kill Pride then and there.

"I get that a lot." Pride said with a smile. "This guy sure was popular, huh?"

Envy snarled, as if to say he wouldn't waste his time with anything not worth it. "I don't like you, you look just like him."

His jaw came out a little and his hot breath flew into Pride's face and blew his hair back. "You come back from The Gate?"

"I NEVER GOT THROUGH IT! THAT DAMN INSECT!" Envy smashed the back of the wall with a simple flick of his dragon tail.

Winry had to turn to a different side, avoiding a large rock that almost smashed her to bits. She covered her mouth, hoping they forgot she was there.

The original Edward's soul was still making an impact, despite not being of flesh anymore he did not allow Envy through the Gate to the other side; where Hoenheim was.

Within a few seconds, Envy let loose to his normal form with long green hair strung up by a headband and his chest covered by a black outfit. It took a few moments before he could go back to being so small compared to that of a Dragon. He was still as fierce as one though if not more so, you could sense it.

Envy batted an eye and noticed Gluttony passed out behind him. "Fool, I can see he's been productive in my absence."

There was still blood in his mouth, it was clear he sustained some form of injury that was still healing and went away ten seconds later. Winry wondered if her Ed gave him a smack in the jaw on his ticket out of there, that was probably unlikely though Edward would probably have less of a need for that now.

Pride's eyes froze for a second; under his feet were more shards of souls that had come out from the rafters of the church when Envy came down. How horrifying to think even this Church had its unkind secrets.

Envy looked at him with a baffled expression and then laughed. "I see, you WOULD be a new one wouldn't you. Still haven't lost that human edge yet?"

Winry clenched her fists; there were so many reasons for her to hate these people in front of her. All three of them had killed many people without remorse but above all Envy took Ed's life, there was nothing on earth that could take away the longing for vengeance in her heart after that.

Envy moved down, entertained by Pride's shaking hands and clear want for this indulgence. It was more on a whim but he took a hand full of them and put them in Pride's hand. "Go ahead, nothing's stopping you."

Envy was a creature of habit; he did this to Wrath before as well. It didn't benefit him in any way, he didn't like the look of this one simply because he reminded him of Ed but at least a few moments pleasure could be a small sort of gain. These Stones were like taking a human life and absorbing it to the core of your body, killing your soul in the process or whatever resembled it for a Homunculus.

Pride smirked again, there was less and less of him left now. He took them in his hands and poured them down his mouth, smiling all while he did this. Winry was getting more and more disappointed, it was clear that anything promised to her would have to be done herself. Beside her was a sharp part of wood almost like a cross that lost its sides with glass on the end from the ceiling, her fingers moved onto it slow enough so no noise could be made.

Pride's throat burned again like he was drinking in hot acid. There were so many he had just devoured and now the effect on him was great. All the little fragments of Al were slipping away from him, Winry was now a blur and his mother might as well have never existed. As he closed his eyes to the memories they opened up again at Envy's sickening grin, like the devil who had earned its sword. The picture of Al overlapped with Envy and that of Envy's true form until a state of delusion fused in his mind. He held his ears silent but screaming on the inside.

The three pictures went around and around in his head the same way The Gate had entered information into Ed's brain as a young boy, but this time it was not correct. It was an illusion; Al, Envy, Envy's true form. These might have been the three things Ed thought about most right before he died, considering that, in a way, he had another brother in front of him.

Due to the unstable mind of one who had taken life into his own and mixed up things inside he was not able to process this in the same way, instead of Ed thinking about the possibility of Hoenheim having another son other than him and Al, Al and Envy were now one in the same to him. All the little fragments on the surface and underneath had transferred in this way and become one.

Envy lowered an eyebrow when he saw Pride finally find himself but the true Edward made a small appearance in his personality, the Edward that loved Al. Only, Al was not there, only Envy. He was still soiled in his own greed and selfishness that he had shown Winry first hand but now his smile was almost… more genuine.

Winry and Envy didn't know why until he spoke his next words. "Thank you… Brother."  
End chapter


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Rejection

Chapter Fourteen "Rejection"

It was like Pride was now under a spell, he was even moving strangely. The visions of his brother and everything that helped to make him what he was were stripped away with the final offering of sin and evil.

Envy could guess what he was thinking now, this other version of Hoenheim's other son and the one he cared for and loved while tossing Envy aside as a failed creation. His eyes had now lost all of their light and were like two glass eyes dipped in gold, missing their life.

"Well aren't you interesting, but I have no time to play house." Envy dismissed him, stepping aside and ignoring the delusional Homunculus searching for a purpose.

It didn't work though; all it did was make Pride angry. With Ed's spirit came the aggression that a lot of the time helped him strive for greater things but in its root form it was a powerful anger untapped.

"After all that time I spent trying to find you?" Pride grabbed Envy's arm defiantly, mixed up with Al in his mind.

Envy grabbed him and dug his fingernails into his wrist squinting his eyes in annoyance. "Listen here Elric wannabe. There's only one person I'm looking to kill right now and you're getting in my way!"

Winry held onto the piece of glass tighter, holding in the small sting from squeezing to hard and hurting her hand. In a few seconds she was getting ready to intervene, knowing full well she'd probably only have one shot to do this and she would most likely be killed for it. The judgment side of her was losing to her emotional side seeing them there, mocking Ed and Al's name and pleasuring themselves in devouring human souls, it was enough to make anyone sick and tremble in fear but all she wanted was retribution.

The shard of glass with the wood was going to be how she would end things, she wasn't sure how to take out Envy as Edward never told her the secret to killing a Homunculus but she did know that it was possible, Greed had met his fate by Edward's hand. She remembered how jaded Ed became after it happened to him, he was still himself but there was something changed in taking a life and ending what was not his to end. It scared her to ever know that feeling in herself but right now there was nothing else she thought to do.

Right there, when Envy and Pride began arguing she found it in herself to swallow her fear and take matters into her own hands… when she hesitated, it was almost as if somebody had grabbed her shoulder just there and whispered something into her ears, some caution of some sort but it was not of this world but of something beyond that Winry found herself looking all around, still hidden by the pillar but nothing was there.

"Why did I sense… somebody…?" She thought, moving her own against her shoulder.

Crawling out from the shadows of one of the broken crosses came Wrath in a deep anger, he held a large shard of stone in his mouth that was particularly sharp and huge in the shape of a knife; a failed Philosopher's Stone. He was scarred so much the wounds were having trouble healing as fast and across his forehead was a large gash. His own hand pulled forward with all the weight of his body and the shard in between his teeth. Envy turned just as he leapt out blaring a scream. "YOU KILLED HER!"

Envy jerked back, relying on his reflexes to dodge the sudden attack but he was never the intended target. Wrath's impact brought Pride to the ground slamming against the broken glass already on the floor. Winry watched in pure surprise as did Envy.

Wrath started choking him in hysteria. "SHE WAS THE ONLY MOMMY I HAD LEFT!" All this time Wrath's true affections had not left him completely but they were lost now that Izumi had died.

This hit Winry really hard; she dropped the bit of glass to the floor as she struggled to proses the fact that she was responsible for the now confirmed death of Izumi.

Pride looked back up at Envy who was not interfering at all and almost amused by the two youngest squabbling over human sentiments he considered a waste of time. The few fights Ed and Al had never were cruel to one another in this way; it started to puzzle him greater still. Truth was never a fair master and that made Envy confusing to him.

The breath was leaving his already cold body as Wrath pushed his one hand into his neck continually screaming about Izumi.

Gluttony started to re-form again and that was by far what Envy was most interested in right now, Pride meant nothing to him so there should be no question over this and yet Pride saw their non-existent relationship as Ed and Al's were.

Pride got a hold of Wrath's neck now with his two free arms and tightened his grip far harder on them, until he now held him in the air struggling.

"You MONSTER!" Wrath said weakly but loudly.

Pride didn't think about what he said because words were not affecting him the same way anymore, he had become less human. Wrath was going to use the shard to stab through Pride's throat when he got a good hold of him but it ended up on the ground with the rest of the glass that had a moment ago carved up the back of Pride's head.

Envy's attention changed back to Pride again, amused a little. This was where Pride had found his new self, he watched Envy smirk but it was overlapped with Alphonse's kind smile that Edward had longed to bring back to him for so many years. This was the way to bring back Al's smile, by inflicting pain, that twisted logic ticked in his mind as he started to enjoy clutching Wrath's neck.

He threw Wrath to the ground, barely breathing and unable to heal. "You think that's something? Check this out."

He said this the same way Ed would to Al after learning a new skill in Alchemy, guiltless and proud. What he had seen was Winry finally, her knees on the ground as she was still shocked by Izumi's death and the blood on her hands.

Gluttony had almost formed completely and Envy watched as Pride asked more on a whim than any real curiosity. Winry's shoulder hurt this time, more like somebody had smacked her, another warning. She climbed to her feet and tried to think of something she could do, she despised this person but she was aware of all he could do to her.

Wrath was coughing in the background, mumbling something. Blood came up and out of his mouth from the tightened grip that would have killed anyone else. Izumi had called her "Son" with her last words and that was feeding to his rage.

Kneeling down as his arm changed form, Pride grabbed that piece of solid liquid human life that Wrath had intended for his weapon and readied to show off in front of his newly appointed Brother. Belief was a powerful thing and he had managed to set this in a fake reality; a delusion.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Winry moved her hand to touch the glass she had a moment ago.

Pride continued to close in on her with the same look on his face he had when he laughed at her for having compassion, this was no longer anything resembling Edward or any human being at all. She backed up but was now against the end of the wall with nowhere to turn due to the wreckage from Envy's appearance. The light of the window shown down on his face in different colors making him appear with shadows and light mixed together in disharmony.

In a mistake on Winry's part, she didn't act fast enough and only managed a small bit of glass which she was keeping secret in her fisted hand. He was so near to her his breath was hot in her face.

"What's the matter Winry? Didn't you always want Edward to get this close to you?" He said in a mocking way as he smiled knowingly.

She snarled and bit her lip, starring into those empty irises. She tensed up trying to guess his next move, he was difficult to anticipate. He put his hand on her face holding her jaw affectionately until he shoved her back against the wall.

His right arm grasped the stone fragment and slowly pushed up to Winry's face. "This is made of human lives. They taste great, too." she was petrified as he had something like that up to her touching her cheek.

Wrath saw bits and pieces near him too; Pride's scraps, and now they were too distracted with Winry to see him take them.

Winry was being punished for making the same mistake Ed made, thinking she could bring humans back to life. The difference was Winry never used Alchemy to do it; nonetheless in believing Pride could do the same thing she amounted to that same fault.

The image was of Edward but only in Winry's nightmares could he start moving the stone to her face. She closed her mouth but he forced it open and pushed it into her throat, struggling she tried to stop it, this betrayal of anything decent. Instead Wrath was the one to come to her aid.  
End chapter


	15. Chapter Fifteen: The Gate

Chapter Fifteen "The Gate"

After consuming the stones himself he had taken in the added strength to heal his throat and the energy to combat any weakness he had in his missing limbs. When Pride looked back there was a hand through his back, the same way Envy had formed a spike to stick through Edward, and Wrath had done so with his ability to form different things with his limbs. Envy snorted, seeing the irony in this and loving it.

Pride looked back, the pain was not as vibrant in his current state but the flashing memories were the worst torture of all. Edward had died in this way, that was embedded within him from his very birth at Allophone's distress.

He fell into Winry's open arms, blood overflowing from his mouth the same way Ed's did. He was literally reliving the same moment without the end of death to satisfy him.  
Even knowing this was not Edward it was hard on Winry to see this powerful image, Edward dead in her arms gasping for breath.

Wrath moved back upward, sticking his hand into his pocket. There were three strands of Edward's golden locks… all that had survived after the transmutation. Wrath had taken down Lust using their own weaknesses against them and he was about to do the same with Pride.

It made Pride unable to move an inch as he slid to the floor from Winry's chest. There he was, a pathetic creature stunned by the Original.

"What… what's happening to him?" Winry said and received no reply.

Wrath was not able to stand up at all but he carved a circle around them crudely and in haste, it was a lame imitation of Ed's alchemical circle but it was enough to harm Pride greatly. Nobody did anything as he took the time to carve it out in Pride's own blood on Wrath's fingers.

He and Winry were in the center of the circle, stunned by what was happening. Winry was hit with every possible tragedy she could stand and by now she was unsure how to take it anymore. Among her were the creations that longed to be human and hated humans all the same were fighting and playing with lives as tools and enjoyment. She was just one of them that happened to still be living. She wondered if her parents were this strong before they met their end and if they truly hated Mustang for it, the way she should be pleased with Pride's agony as she found she could not be now, seeing him there.

Sympathy was something Winry had been given in spirit and though she despised him and wanted him dead it was hard when he had the face of somebody she cared about.

Envy had enough of this, it was boring him now. He needed a way to find Hoenheim and the way to him was through The Gate.

Reaching his hand out from the ground Pride called out to Envy, his blurred image seeing him as his last hope. "Please… Brother… please…!"

Edward's voice came out from him again and pleaded with everything he had yet Envy just stood there with an unsympathetic sneer. He called out again and again and nothing changed, Wrath was almost finished with the writing now. Pride's scream rang out when Wrath placed Ed's remains in the transmutation circle.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I did this to you!" He screamed, Envy fading from within him. "AL!" Images and feelings were violent within him, vivid and clear like The Gate was being pushed open.

He saw a bit of it, loud hammering at the door with Edward's voice on the other side screaming. "LET ME OUT!"

Creatures clung to Pride's arms and gripped tightly around them, laughing at his misery. He was not dead yet but he was moments before the real world would slip out of his grasp. He turned his head back and Winry was trembling. Had she heard Edward's voice? The real Edward?

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pride felt as though hot acid was being poured down his throat, the stones poured out of his mouth as he coughed them out with a mixture of his own blood. He was dying now and Winry was too afraid to move.

Nothing could kill him fully, Wrath was not an Alchemist and neither were Envy or the still immobilized Gluttony. Pride was starring right up at Winry but it was clear she was not looking at him right now; her head was still turned upward, where she heard Ed scream from The Gate.

And this was when Pride remembered something, something that the stones had forced him to forget. Before he took of them he had a resemblance of what might be considered… happiness towards this girl. After being rejected flat out by Rose and spat on by those around him the one he thought to look for from Edward's memories was Winry.

He didn't question it at all, still denying who he was and trying to find a purpose but she accepted him a little. After he did all those horrible things she was still there for him until he drew the line in the sand himself. There she was, all the things that he caused to happen to her wearing down on her and forcing her hand and still she was looking up, he hated this, she was not looking at him at all; she was still vainly searching for Edward. She always had waited for him and never got around to breaking that off, even after he had died for his brother she still was there, waiting.

Pride closed his eyes and shed tears, wearing a smile, no longer delusional from the stones and holding in the searing pain from the transmutation circle. "Winry… pick up the stone."

Winry shuffled, slowly taking the stone had had tried to force on her. He was clearly unable to move so she was not as scared of it but she was elsewhere right now, stunned by what she had just seen though for half a second; what Ed and Al had seen trying to bring their mother back.

Wrath moved upwards, expressionless and worn out from all the cruelty in his life, satisfied in imprisoning Pride forever but now at the same place he started without Izumi. He ended up collapsing right next to the door at the end and passing out willingly.

Envy was moments away from leaving himself, not fascinated by all of this and still driven in his own goal. Gluttony would awake a towering monstrosity driven only by pleasure but that would never change, Dante took away his mind.

Pride blinked and his voice was teary, something Edward only got when things were out of control, as it was for Pride right now. She was shivering, looking everywhere for something that was not there, that Pride could never be. That could be what made him want to drive her away so much and seeing her like this reminded to him once again that there were just some things out of his reach. He wanted to believe he could beat him and become something he was not, he thought he might have already outdone him with both his arms and legs and the knowledge stolen from him but now he was on the floor in the middle of a cage, as his pride came before his fall.

"Winry, I want you to use that." He took her arm softly but firmly, the way she did for him a long while ago. "I want you to transmute me, and bring him and Al back."

Both Envy and Winry flinched hearing that, Pride would be sure to be dead forever; wandering the inside of The Gate for his transgressions unable to make it to either side. "But then, you'll…"

Pride interrupted her. "I never was to begin with." He moved her hand to the floor on the circle. "Let me think for you, but this time there won't be any tricks."

Winry was stunned, not wanting to do it but with a part of her still resenting him. The stone was set next to her just waiting to be used for this new immorality.

"Come on." Pride moved his hand across her face with no wrongful intent anymore. "I'd rather be remembered doing something… that the real Edward would do, at least."

With that he pulled her down so that both her hands touched and closed her eyes to the alchemical reaction.

Envy said with delight. "YES!" He jumped into the center, ready to see The Gate to find the other side; see his no good father once again.

Pride opened his eyes to a bright light and he stood in the middle of a clear white existence, standing there before The Gate and... the original Edward with his hands still in his pockets.

"You were trying to lead me on the right path the whole time." Pride scoffed.  
"I wouldn't say that, that's more Al's job." Ed said with an honest look on his face.

This was the last proof that Pride was a Homunculus but although that was true right now, remembering Winry he felt, strangely human. What was being a human about anyway? He guessed he would never know the answer but at least he found an idea of what it might be.

Pride touched Ed on the shoulder and Ed's arm glowed a little, as if he had been given something special in that. "Have a safe trip home I guess. Though I'm guessing you'll give what I gave you to your Brother."

Edward shook his head yes as he spoke but his tone was soft, not as angry with what had happened, moved by all the gentleness in others that reflected upon you when you die. "I appreciate it."

Pride glanced back one more time before he'd go through The Gate and smiled, mirroring the look Ed returned back to him. "And for what it's worth, what you did for Winry, was something you did yourself."

Ed had given Pride the best farewell gift, he knew Ed would have done the same for Winry, but it was still Pride that did it; he had found his own soul. Pride closed his eyes as the light covered him and the door opened, with that he left that world forever. "Thanks, Ed."

Envy appeared at last, though there was no real sense of time right now. "What's going on? Where am I you worm?"  
"The Gate." Ed said.

He walked up to Edward threateningly but Ed was still overcome with calmness, the world opened up to him now. He was going to send Al back to the other side, back to Winry and everyone else but that's really what he wanted to do for his brother all along, helped a bit by his other self that went through The Gate before him.

"For me it was a place called London, if I remember right. At least that's what my old man said." Ed said.  
"Old man? You mean Hohenheim of Light? You're telling me he's still alive?" Envy showed a bit of excitement to think he still had a shot at killing Hohenheim.  
"Yes." Ed answered simply.

Envy came to the end and stuck his hands in the door, grunting as he tried to pull them apart.

"I wouldn't do that, there's no way to know where that'll lead for you." Ed warned him still quiet and easy-going.  
"LIKE HELL THERE ISN'T!" Envy said beginning to get some progress on the mighty doors of The Gate. "I'll tell it exactly where to take me!"

"I've come to kill him. Take me to Hohenheim of light!" The door came open and as he spoke the black arms from the door wrapped themselves around Envy's arms.

The children of the gate in their black forms all grabbed him as he came closer into the light. "Stop messing with me! You're taking me to see-" As he spoke his image shifted to Edward's. "Hohenheim! To that BASTARD!" in his last effort he changed into a mighty dragon and ran towards it and vanished to the other side.

Winry opened her eyes, laying there was Al in the middle of the circle, the same age as he was when Ed and Al first started their journey. But it was clear he was no Homunculus, there were no remains to have brought him to life. He grunted, his eyes heavy but innocent, starring up at Winry.

"Winry." Was all he said but it was enough to bring Winry to cry.

She grabbed him and hugged him, letting it all out. Pride gave Ed the means to, and she knew deep down that of course Edward would bring Al back instead. She did not know if he was on the other side of The Gate or gone for good but all she could think about now was how proud she was of him and of Pride for his one good deed.

Al did not know how to react, for him everything went black after they tried to bring their Mom back. But Winry was older now and she was hugging him in her arms happily so he guessed there were things he still did not know yet.

She stood up and wiped the tears from her face, honestly happy for the first time since she found out about everything. Passing by Wrath who was barely awake she mentioned to him. "If you want, I can install some Automail for you. Come by any time."

Wrath blinked a few times in bewilderment but understood that was her way of telling him that he was not a monster in her eyes anymore. Winry walked out as the next day finally came, they would both have to wait for Edward now and neither of them were sure if he was alive or not; but they figured his pride wouldn't let him forget them either way.  
The End


End file.
